About Pips Hint

Pips Hint gives you hints for the daily Pips puzzle — as little or as much as you want. Start with one line about where to begin, reveal one domino, go step by step, or see the full answer.

Hints stay hidden until you ask

Easy, Medium and Hard each get their own hints, and nothing on the board is revealed until you tap. The first hint is one line about where to start. The next shows one domino and why it goes there. Step by step continues one domino at a time, and the full answer is always the last option.

How the hints are made

When a new puzzle comes out, our program first checks that the official answer meets every region's rule. Then it works through the board using a short list of rules that spot forced moves: a two-square region only one domino can fill, a square that can be covered only one way, the last copy of a domino with just one place left, or an equal region only one number can complete. These rules don't catch every possible deduction. Each revealed domino comes with the reason our rules found. If our rules find no forced move at the start, the first line points you to the region with the fewest possible number combinations. When none of our rules decides the next move, the hint says so plainly and follows the official answer instead of making up a reason.

How we count solutions

Our program also counts the ways each board can be completed. Two boards count as different if any square's number or any domino's position differs; swapping two identical dominoes doesn't make a new solution. If your board meets every region's rule, it's a correct solution — even if it isn't the one the game shows. When a revealed domino might fit either way round, the hint tells you whether flipping it still leads to a valid board.

What's official and what's ours

The puzzles and their official answers come from the daily Pips game by The New York Times. We don't create or edit puzzles. The hints, reasons and solution counts on this site are worked out by our own program from that official data.

Who runs it

Pips Hint is an independent site run by Ellis Claire. It's paid for by ads. Does a hint, reason or answer look wrong? Send us the puzzle date and difficulty and we'll check it. Get in touch.

Pips Hint is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to The New York Times. Pips is a game by The New York Times.